Since that time, lawsuits have been replaced by copyright trolls who are authorized to act on behalf of copyright holders.īecause the BitTorrent technology reveals the IP addresses of devices connected to its data stream - called a torrent - trolls can identify which addresses download files. More than 200,000 users were sued in the United States between 20 for downloading copyrighted material using BitTorrent. However, using it to download copyrighted material - like a brand-new movie - without the copyright owner's permission is not legal. Is Torrenting Legal?īitTorrent is a legitimate file transfer protocol, and using it - called torrenting - is legal as long as the content can be downloaded or uploaded legally. As a result, BitTorrent's 10 percent share of all download traffic in North America in 2010 dropped to 3 percent by 2015. After spiking in early 2008, BitTorrent's popularity gradually declined as internet speeds increased.ĭuring the same time frame, streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime dominated the market with low-cost downloads. In 2005, estimates indicated BitTorrent accounted for about 35 percent of all internet traffic. Consequently, transmission rates are faster than with http and ftp, which both download files sequentially from only one source. However, unlike http and ftp, BitTorrent is a distributed transfer protocol.īitTorrent peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol finds users with files other users want and then downloads pieces of the files from those users simultaneously. Much like http (hypertext transfer protocol) and ftp (file transfer protocol), BitTorrent is a way to download files from the internet.
BitTorrent is an internet transfer protocol.
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